Wheelchairs which include various features of adjustability have been known in the prior art for some time. For example, Nasr U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,490 describes a wheelchair having a seat which is vertically adjustable, and which has some other features of adjustability. Haury U.S. Pat. No. 4,082,348 discloses a collapsible wheelchair having an X-frame wherein the frame members are telescopically adjustable with respect to each other. Various other arrangements have been described in the prior art for allowing adjustment of certain parameters of a wheelchair. Despite these and other prior art efforts, there is still a substantial problem in the wheelchair art of accommodating children, particularly small children, with a suitable wheelchair which can be expanded in varying ways to accommodate the growth of the child.
Accordingly, it is a primary object of this invention to provide a new and improved adjustable wheelchair in which the width of the seat portion is continuously adjustable over a wide defined range.
It is a further object of this invention to allow for vertical adjustment of the wheelchair seat relative to the surface on which the wheels of the chair are supported.
Another object of the invention is to provide a novel Velcro fastening structure for supporting the cushion of the wheelchair seat.
It is a further object of the invention to easily collapse an adjustable wheelchair horizontally as opposed to vertically. An additional object of the invention is to support the feet of a seated occupant of the wheelchair at a variety of inclinations relative to the horizontal.
Additional objects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.